This lengthy franchise of mech anime, manga, and games has been running since 1979.

Gundam was concieved by creator Yoshiyuki Tomino and developed by him along with a crew at Sunrise Inc. under the name of Hajime Yatate. The series was dubbed Gunboy during development, in an attempt to appeal to young males. The series used the word freedom heavily, and eventually the creators would merge the word gun with the word freedom to name the series Gundom. This was further iterated and changed to Gundam. Mobile Suit Gundam would follow the Universal Century Timeline, a storyline that was dominated by the One Year War and its after effects. The Gundam series would continue on to branch off into multiple series each spawning their own movies, merchandise, and unique timelines.

Universal Century

The Universal Century is the most fleshed out of the timelines in the Gundam saga. The series began with Mobile Suit Gundam, following a boy, Amuro Ray, through the battlefield as he piloted the weapon, Gundam. The characters from Mobile Suit Gundam would be transfered into a new series that aired approximately five years after the first, in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. This series continued the Universal Century timeline and told the events following the One Year War.

Shortly after Zeta Gundam was released, the team released Mobile Suit Double Zeta Gundam which further continued the storyline. Up until Double Zeta, the series had followed a strict timeline, the series being spaced out in real time years. Mobile Suit Gundam and the One Year War took place in UC 0079 (1979 as the release year) while Zeta took place in UC 0085 and Double Zeta in UC 0086 (both series produced in 1985 and1986 respectively). This had cause for a 5 year gap between the original series and their most complete series, 'causing the creators to return to previous years with two small series to fill in pockets of the story, being Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket and 0083 Stardust Memory.

The Universal Century also saw movie releases, while each of the Anime Series usually had their own compilation movie following the TV airing of the series; movie specific stories were created such as Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack which broke the strict year by year timeline having the movie take place in UC 0093. Furthermore Gundam F91 was created, however it was place 30 years in the future after Char's Counterattack which served to prevent any inconsitencies in the story.

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam was created in 1993, but was placed even further in the timeline dating its series to UC 0153 well past any events that happend in the Gundam series. It follows a story line influenced by the Universal Century but remains separate by being so far into the future.

The last visit that the Universal Century timeline would have in a Gundam series would be Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, created in 1996. Unlike the past iterations of Gundam, the 08th MS Team is the only series to take place during the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, as the series follows a story during the One Year War.